Sturgeon County culinary cookout gets bigger

The Sturgeon County Bounty Culinary Cookout may be one of the smaller food festivals in the region, but it lays claim to having one of the biggest parking lots.

Now in its third edition, the open-air culinary event takes place at the spacious Cardiff Park on Friday, Aug. 11.

Anchoring the festival are 10 food trucks with vastly different offerings using ingredients from Sturgeon County's fruit, vegetable, grain and meat producers.

What stands out is the blend of trendy global cuisine from Thai shrimp, Korean bulgogi beef, Mexican pork carnitas, Eritrean-Ethiopian stew and Italian ice cream to the more conventional burgers, sliders, pizza, salads and mini-donuts.

"Last year we had six vendors. This year we have 10. We're always trying to give more food options to people. All the food vendors have paired up with at least one or two local producers. This provides exposure to producers and the increase in food trucks helps to move and accommodate lineups," said Leanne McBean, coordinator for Sturgeon County Economic Development.

Like any successful food festival, a blend of new and repeat food trucks will populate the park.

Returning to the fold is St. Albert based Jack's Burger Shack and XIX Nineteen as well as Bon Accord's Prairie Gardens and Streetside Catering. Edmonton's Urbano Pizza also makes a comeback, as does DaVinci Gelato.

New this year is St. Albert's Ethiopian-Eritrean restaurant Saviour's Café and Bistro.

"They have a very different flavour and we're very eager to showcase them."

Also making its debut is Funky Mango and Go Nuts for Donuts.

"Funky Mango is global cuisine. They're all over the place and a lot of adults are really excited about them. And the kids will really like Go Nuts for Donuts. They have mini-donuts garnished with toppings."

Also jumping into the fray for the first time is The New Deli, with a bit of everything from pork carnitas and Korean bulgogi to Saskatoon craft soda.

Menu prices range from two to eight tickets per dish.

"If the weather holds we're expecting crowds of about 1,200 to 1,300. In the first year we had about 900 people and last year we estimated about 1,000 to 1,100."

Entertaining the expected crowds are two Sturgeon County favourites. Global Country winner Justin Hogg straps on his guitar and sings an exciting style that mixes country with rock and roll.

The evening's feature performers are Ain't No Rodeo, a full-throttle party Morinville band led by singer Darcy Hjelsvold. A versatile foursome, the band is at their best playing country, rock and bluegrass in three and four part harmonies.

The festival also offers a cooking workshop for kids and drop-in cooking lessons on making green onion cakes for adults. In addition, parents can saunter through the Morinville Market's 20 vendor booths while children burn off energy at the Kids Zone.

If you're hungry and looking for a diverse lineup of good food to eat right in your back yard, check out the Sturgeon County Bounty Culinary Cookout.

Cardiff Park is located about 1.6 kilometres east of Morinville. Construction on Cardiff Road is rerouting traffic. Organizers encourage visitors driving on Highway 2 to turn east at Carbondale Rd. and then turn north on Range Rd. 251 straight to Cardiff. Signs will be posted.